Abstract/Book Review

Does autism involve a deficit in intersubjective engagement with other persons? We studied nonverbal communication in children and adolescents with and without autism (n = 12 per group), group-matched for chronological age and verbal mental age, during 3 min of a videotaped interview. In keeping with previous studies, there were only subtle but potentially revealing group differences on behavioral ratings. Participants with autism made fewer head-shakes/nods (but not smiles) when the interviewer was talking, and the interviewer made fewer head-shakes/nods when participants were talking. Yet there were marked group differences on reliable `subjective' ratings of (a) affective engagement and (b) the smoothness of reciprocal interaction. We interpret the findings in terms of a group difference in identification between conversational partners.